Can you pay Abu Dhabi toll with Dubai Salik tags?

The toll fee will be Dh4 for every pass during peak hours from Saturday to Thursday, and Dh2 on holidays and non-peak hours.

Social media is abuzz with questions after the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi and the Integrated Transport Centre on Thursday announced the rolling out of toll gates in the emirate. (Photos: Four locations in Abu Dhabi where you have to pay toll)

There will be four toll gates -- on Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Bridge, Al Maqtaa Bridge and Mussafah Bridge. The toll system will be active from October 15.

The toll fee will be Dh4 for every pass during peak hours from Saturday to Thursday (7am - 9am and 5pm - 7pm). During off-peak hours, on Fridays, and during public holidays, the toll fee will be Dh2 for every pass.

The most common question everyone is asking is this: Will Dubai's Salik tags work in Abu Dhabi? Well, the answer is no. That's because the two emirates use different toll systems. While Dubai collects toll using Salik tags attached to the windscreen of the vehicle, Abu Dhabi will collect toll using number plate recognition technology.

How does the toll system work?

All road users should open a special toll account and through this account they will be able to manage their own vehicles and process payments due through a simple, user-friendly online system. All Abu Dhabi registered vehicles on the official system registration launch, August 30, 2019, will have automatically registered accounts at no charge. Account holders will automatically receive an SMS message stating their user-name and password for that account, and can then add any additional vehicles to the registered account as required.

What about vehicles registered in Dubai and other emirates?

For vehicles registered outside Abu Dhabi, the owner must be registered in the system before crossing the toll gates. In case a vehicle which is not registered in the toll gate system crosses under the toll gates, the user will be given a grace period of 10 business days, starting from the crossing time, to register in the system, otherwise a fine applies.

Users must have sufficient credit in their account when crossing the toll gate system. Vehicles registered in Abu Dhabi may pay the toll fee according to the post-payment system during any vehicle licensing procedure in case of insufficient balance. For vehicles registered outside Abu Dhabi with insufficient credit available in their user account, drivers have five business days to top up the account, otherwise a fine will apply as per the regulations.

• Abu Dhabi